Over the years, I’ve witnessed cows doing things that made me shake my head in wonder — and I’m not the only one. As a rancher watches a cow run right past an open gate for the umpteenth time or stand sideways in a stock trailer, not letting another cow enter, he’s apt to mutter, “That’s a cow for you.”

This week, I’m inspired to think about all the goofy behaviors associated with cows (although they apply to calves and bulls as well). Take this time of the year, for example. If a cow gives birth to a calf while out in the pasture (rather than in the corral), she will often hide it. I’ve always marveled that a cow has some sort of secret communication with her calf, even if it isn’t obvious to a human. The calf gets the message — “stay right here” — and he does.

Over the years, realizing that a cow has calved, I’ve spent time trying to find the calf — quite a lot of time. One year, for example, before we moved out here, Lyle and I hunted for a calf in the pasture out in front of the house.

We searched the irrigation ditch, the dry fall grass and the sagebrush that grew along the fence. The cow wasn’t bawling; in fact, she was contentedly nibbling at the little stems of new green grass. She didn’t even look up. No hint from her that we were anywhere around her calf (I have seen cows act this way even if I was standing next to a calf that was hidden in a bush).

Lyle and I finally gave up and walked back to the house. Sure enough, a little while later, we saw the calf standing at its mother’s side. The hiding place remained a mystery. That’s a cow for you.

Cows ignore the loud sounds of fireworks, thunder and construction equipment working on the highway that runs beside the pasture. However, let somebody start hooking the stock trailer up to the pickup truck (especially this time of year), and their ears perk up. They hear the familiar rattling sounds of the trailer, they start bawling, and, thinking they’re going to summer pasture, hunt up their calves.

If it is time to go to summer pasture and the corral gate is open, the cows will probably run right into the corral (otherwise, if the gate is open and we are herding them, the cows will run right past it). If it is loading-up day and the stock trailer is backed up to the loading dock, it is possible that some cows — I remember one in particular — will jump up into the trailer and stand sideways so no others can gain entry. That’s cows for you.

Experience with milk cows on the family ranch had taught me that although cows sometimes pretend to be dumb, they’re actually pretty smart. Take the cows that didn’t want to be gathered from daily summer pasture for evening milking at the corral. Even though a cow might have worn a bell around her neck so we could keep track of her, come evening (she knew when), the cow would run off and hide in the trees, standing perfectly still so we couldn’t hear the bell. That’s a cow for you.

These are a few of the examples of “wonder why” cow behaviors. More another time.